Two Years Later
by Fuzzelball
Summary: A few years after 'The Avengers'. Tony and Steve are in a relationship with Ebony Ferostal, a young woman with extraordinary powers. When Loki manages to break out from his prison in Asgard, he tries to take over the world and attacks the city of New York again. He fails, but not without causing damage...
1. Prologue: Awakening

Hi, this my first real story that I'm publishing. I know there may be some stories with OCs, but I hope some of you like it nonetheless.

Anyways, please be so kind and review. Tell me what you like and what you don't like. Maybe I can improve my writing.

Darkness… voices… warmth…

Darkness… voices… warmth…

Sleep…unconsciousness…

Light… movement… consciousness!

My eyes fluttered open. My limbs felt sore when I tried to move them… something was attached to them… I was bound to something. I was floating in some kind of jelly. I didn't know where I was or why I was here.

And that made me panicking. I took quick, shallow breaths; I had a mask on that provided me with oxygen. My mind raced, trying desperately to find a solution, a way to get out of this. But with every second that passed, my fear grew and when I was at the point of hysteria, something finally happened. The glass of the tube in which I woke up shattered. The goo-like substance and I flowed out into the room.

I ripped the mask from my face and found myself in a lab. I stood up shakily from my crouch, looking around the room for any sign of life, and with that, possible danger. Not a soul was there, but I still didn't know why I was here. And even more important where was here?

"Ebby?" a voice behind me uttered. It sounded surprised.

I turned around and saw a man with short, brownish blonde hair staring at me. He seemed completely bewildered.

"You're awake?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Yes, I am. And I demand to know where the fuck I am!"

"Ebby, calm down. I won't hurt you." He held his hands in front of him in a surrendering gesture. He didn't seem to be armed, but you never knew.

"Where am I and what the fuck happened?" I hissed.

He narrowed his eyes for a moment, only to straighten up again after a second. His hands fell back to his sides and he looked me directly in the eye. "Ebby, do you know who I am?"

"No. And actually I don't care. I want to go home." I didn't know where this was going, but I wouldn't stay to find out.

"Where do you live?"

"You think I would tell you where I live after waking up in a glass tube? Think again."

"Do you know who you are?"

I stared at him incredulously. "Come again?"

"Your full name. What is it?"

"My name is none of your business." Truth was I couldn't recall my name. In fact, I couldn't recall anything… nothing about me or myself, my friends, family, past. It worried me. It worried me a lot.

He noticed my hesitation. "Can you remember anything?"

I just shook my head, my eyes on his. He looked like he was honest, like he meant well, but I still had to be careful. Who knew if he had been the one to bring me here.

He took a step towards me. "My name is Clint, Clint Barton. I'm a SHIELD agent and I'm your friend. You are already home. Your name is Ebony Ferostal. You had a… an accident a while back. Since then, you were in a coma."

I stared at him while he took of his sweatshirt. I had been out for quite some time, it seemed.

"Here, put this on." He walked up to me slowly as not to scare me. He handed it to me and I finally looked down my body. I was still covered in this strange goo, but apart from that, I only wore a cropped tank top that showed my stomach and some really short shorts. I blushed involuntarily and pressed the sweatshirt to my chest, suddenly feeling pretty awkward for threatening this guy in this outfit, if you can even call it that.

But I calmed down quite quickly, remembering the fact that I still didn't know where I was. "Where am I?" I asked without meaning to.

"As I said, you're home. I know we got a lot of explaining to do, but please, keep calm. I'm gonna get Bruce to examine you, just to be sure," Clint replied and walked up to what looked like an intercom. He talked to this Bruce-guy who seemed to be quite itchy to see me.

Not even a minute later, a guy with already greying brown hair and brown eyes came through the glass door Clint must have come through as well. His eyes changed from utter anxiety to utter happiness when he caught eye of me. "Ebby, how are you feeling?" He walked up to me, but stopped abruptly when I stepped back. "Are you alright?"

"Bruce… she doesn't remember a thing," Clint informed him. This guy, Bruce, turned towards him, incredulous, before turning to me again.

"Is he right? Do you actually remember anything?"

I shook my head. "I see the both of you for the first time in my life."


	2. Chapter 1: Surroundings

"Alright, this is…" Bruce trailed off.

"Bad?" Clint offered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah… we got a problem."

"Guys, if you're talking about anything I shouldn't know about, you might as well go outside," I said, eyeing them with both, suspicion and amusement. Those guys seemed to be okay, but well… I didn't remember them. They were strangers.

This Clint guy said I was already at home… okay, but where was home and where was my family? If he told the truth, why didn't they already contact my relatives? Maybe they were living far away, in another country or maybe-

"We should get you cleaned up," Bruce said. "I'm afraid I have to run a few tests with you, to make sure you're alright. Are you okay with that?"

I nodded curtly, looking around while they escorted me to the elevator. Clint pushed the button for the fiftieth floor; I had to admit that I was impressed, realizing how tall this building must've been, judging by the number of floors.

The ping of the elevator pulled me back to reality. The doors slid open, revealing a hallway. But not some hallway in some research lab. No, this one's floor was a shiny black marble, polished enough that I could see my reflection in it. Its walls were pure white, as were the ceiling and pillars.

Clint and Bruce waltzed into the corridor as if they owned the place, turning around to see me still standing in the elevator. "Come on," Bruce said. "Don't be shy."

I looked around briefly before finally setting foot on the cool tiles, unconsciously leaving footprints of goo on the fine marble. They led me to a room on the right. It was a bedroom, as sumptuous as the hallway. A cream-colored carpet and white walls. At the wall to my left, there was a giant bed with white covers, so big I thought about ten people having space in it. The wall right in front of me had two quite large double doors; I wasn't sure what they were for. And to my right… there wasn't a wall. Well… actually, there was a wall… of glass. I walked into the room, completely forgetting about Clint and Bruce, and sauntered over to the cityscape of New York, framed by the translucent curtains. I stopped in front of it and looked out for a couple of minutes.

"Do you recognize this city?" Clint asked, raising his eyebrow in question.

I watched his reflection in the glass. "Yes, actually, I do, but I don't know why I'm here."

"Okay, we're going to leave you now. That door leads to your bathroom. JARVIS will inform us when you're ready."

I turned to Bruce. "Who's JARVIS?"

"JARVIS is an A.I., he's running the entire building. If you have any questions of requests, you can tell him."

"O-okay…? Erm… hi, JARVIS?"

"Hello, Miss Ferostal, I see you have awakened. Can I help you in any way?" a British accented voice replied from actually all around me.

I was kind of shocked that the room, or building, was talking to me. "N-no, I just wanted to say hi… nothing big."

"I see. If you do have any request, please ask."

"Okay."

Bruce and Clint left and I turned to the double doors. I opened them and almost fainted. Clothes of any kind, colour, shape and form stared back at me and I was slightly taken aback for a moment. When I snapped out of my semi-trance, I started to look for something comfortable to wear. Sweatpants and a t-shirt had to do it and I turned to the small door in the corner I hadn't seen earlier. The bathroom wasn't a bathroom, it was an indoor swimming pool.

45 minutes later, I was finished and JARVIS had apparently told Bruce. There was a knock on my door.

"Yes, please?"

Bruce stepped in, smiling. "If you'd follow me."

We headed back to the elevator and headed down to another lab; apparently, there were a quite a few in this building. I sat on the metal table and looked around. This had to be another kind of lab, it looked nothing like the one I woke up in, except for the while walls, ceiling and floor. In this one was a lot of medical-looking stuff, microscopes and other stuff I couldn't even think of a name for.

Bruce started with checking my reflexes, taking blood samples and asking me, in my opinion, almost silly questions like, what is the capitol of Spain or four times three.

"You are fine, no permanent damages," he said after reading the results of his various tests.

"Yeah… except for that amnesia," I muttered, looking around.

"Well, there is a 100% chance that you'll get your memories back. It might take some time."

"Can you tell me about you or the people I know?"

Bruce suddenly stiffened. He turned his back to me, shuffling with some papers.

"I might not remember you, but I'm pretty sure that you're hiding something from me when you do that," I said, trying to look over his shoulder. At first, he didn't say a word, but I could catch a glimpse on a picture of three people. I was in the middle, in between two unknown men, a blonde and a brunet. "Who's that?" I asked, pointing at the photograph.

Bruce turned to me before looking back at the photograph. His eyes widened in alarm, grabbing the photo and hiding it the drawer of his desk. "…some friends of yours," he replied shakily.

"Okay, so tell me about them."

Bruce flinched again. "Erm… well… they also live here in the tower, as well as me and Clint. They've missed you quite a lot."

"When can I meet them?"

"Later. I think I should… prepare them, tell them about your lost memories before you meet them," Bruce offered, giving me a shaky smile.

I shrugged. "Alright."


	3. Chapter 2: Pain

"What do you mean we can't see her _right now_?!" Tony screamed at Bruce, his face contorting with anger and pain.

"Tony," Steve hushed, "Stay calm."

Tony turned around furiously, screaming, "She's been in a coma for two fucking years, Bruce tells me not to go up and see her and you really have the nerve to tell me to stay calm?!"

Steve looked down before he sternly faced Tony again. "I want to see her as much as you do, but I'm afraid there's a reason why we can't." He looked at Bruce and Clint. "Isn't it?"

Bruce looked off to the side. "Well… she…"

"She can't remember us," Clint explained. "She can't remember anything, not us, not herself."

That made everyone look up. Even Natasha's brows shot up in surprise or rather shock.

"How is this possible?" Thor asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I assume that the blow on her head was the cause. It hit directly on the hippocampus, a part of the brain, which is involved with keeping memories," Bruce replied.

"How long is going to take until she remembers us again?" Steve asked quietly.

"I don't know. Maybe she can recall everything in a few days, maybe a few weeks."

"Or maybe never," Tony muttered.

"Tony, don't say that," Steve scolded.

"But what if she'll never remember us? What if she will never be back to normal?"

"She will…"

"YOU CAN'T KNOW THAT!" Tony jumped up from his seat, heading to the elevator.

Steve could only watch him running. He knew Tony wouldn't run to Ebby; he knew what the consequences could be if he rushed things like that. He probably headed off to his workshop or their bedroom.

"Bruce, tell me honestly, how long do you think will it take her to regain her memories?" Steve asked, looking at Bruce with clouded eyes.

"I don't know, but we might be able to help her," Bruce replied thoughtfully.

"How?"

"Well, in some cases, it has been proofed that confronting and telling an amnesiac about his or her past would help the person with retrograde amnesia. In our case, it would include showing her pictures of us, or taking her to places she's been to frequently."

"What about telling her about…?" Steve gestured between him and the elevator.

"I would wait with that. It may be possible that it would… put her off a bit. But you two might as well get closer to her. Perhaps she'll remember you guys that way."

Steve nodded solemnly. "I think I'll talk to Tony, maybe I can calm him down a bit," Steve said, already turning towards the door. He took the elevator to the workshop; Tony liked to take his mind off things by tinkering a bit. At least he did when Ebby had fallen into the coma. He reached the workshop, but couldn't find Tony.

"JARVIS, where's Tony?"

"He is in your bedroom. He seems depressed."

Steve closed his eyes, sighing. This wasn't going to be easy or fun. He walked back to the elevator and pressed the button for their floor. When the door opened again, Steve almost jogged out and over to the door that led to their shared bedroom. He opened the door silently and slowly. No trace of Tony. Steve walked around the bed, when he finally found what he had sought.

"Tony?"

"Go away!" Tony sobbed in reply. He was sitting next to the nightstand, holding something that looked like a piece of paper. Steve looked closer and saw that was a photo of the three of them, Tony hugging Ebony, Steve hugging both of them. They were smiling in the sunlight on top of the Avengers Tower. Bruce had taken that picture about a week before Loki had come back.

"Tony…" Steve sauntered over to his depressed boyfriend, sitting next to him.

"Can you remember that day?" Tony asked quietly, his eyes never leaving the picture.

"I can," Steve replied with a smile, bringing his arms around Tony.

"But she can't… what if she never will?"

"Stop saying that. She will be back with us."

"I don't think I can see her now."

"Why not?"

"I don't think I can bear her standing in front of me and doing nothing but smile and pretend we're nothing more than good friends. She's been gone for two years. As mushy as it sounds, but I just want to hold her close and never let her go again." He let his head fall on the soldier's chest.

"I know how you feel. Believe me, I missed her, too, and I want her back as much as you do, but we have to keep it down. We have to try. It will be hard, not only for us, but also for her. If she really forgot everything, even about herself, we also have to be careful around her. She might be a danger for us."

Tony looked up angrily. "A danger? You are talking about Ebby and not about some random stranger!"

Steve sighed for the umpteenth time that day. "At the moment, she is a stranger. The Ebby we know knew how to handle her powers. This Ebby is probably not even aware of them. Tony, you know what she's capable of and if she can't control it-"

"Stop it!" Tony shouted, jumping up. "Have you listened to yourself?! Have you heard what you just said?"

"Tony, you know I'm right," Steve replied calmly, getting up. "And you know that you want to see her, even if you can't hold her for too long." He brought his arms around the surrendering brunet.


	4. Chapter 3: Reunion

I sat patiently at the large glass table in something that seemed to be a conference room. JARVIS had led me here, saying Bruce, Clint and the others wanted to meet me here. I wondered if those two guys from the photo would be here as well. I didn't think I'd seen them before, but regarding the fact that I couldn't remember anything at all, that didn't have to mean anything. They had to be friends; I was sure I wouldn't let my enemies cuddle up to me.

I was unaware of the door behind me being opened and some people stepping into the room. Somebody clearing his throat made me become aware of things again.

I turned around and looked at the smiling faces of Bruce, Clint and four, to me unknown, people. I smiled back and raised my hand a bit. "Err…Hi, guys?"

The tallest of them, a blonde in the strangest clothes I've ever seen, came forward to give me a bear hug, lifting me out of my chair. "Lady Ebony! What a pleasure it is to see you walking amongst us again! We have missed thee so much!" he exclaimed joyfully.

"Hi," I huffed, patting his massive arm. "Glad to see you, too." I still didn't know him, but I liked him already.

He set me down on my feet again and smiled fondly at me. "How are you feeling?"

"Actually, I'm fine, ignoring that amnesia thing and all," I shrugged, an actually important thing coming to mind. "What's your name? I know I should know who you are, but…"

"I am Thor Odinson of Asgard."

I raised my eyebrow. "You're who?"

"Well," Bruce came forth, wearing an apologetic smile. "I should have told you a few things about us, especially Thor. He is indeed the Norse god of thunder. We are all a bit special… and so are you."

My other eyebrow joined the first. "Okay, well… so you're the God of Thunder," I gestured to Thor. "What's with the rest?"

A young woman with red hair came forward and smiled at me; if she hadn't, I would have been afraid of her. She had this aura of authority with a hint of this 'mess with me and you'll never see the sun again' attitude. "I'm Natasha Romanoff. I'm an assassin."

Crap, I was right. "Hi, Natasha," I replied nervously; unfortunately, I couldn't hold back that nervous giggle. She laughed.

"You don't have to be afraid of me. We were good friends."

"Oh, okay," I said instead of 'thank God'. She hugged me much more carefully, but still lovingly.

When she let go of me, I was suddenly aware of the last two unknown people in the room. They were standing a bit farther away from the rest, watching us intently. They looked at me in a way I couldn't quite place. It was a mix of happiness, anticipation and sadness or even disappointment.

The guys from the photo in Bruce's lab. The blonde smiled at me when he noticed my eyes on them. The brunet looked at his feet. They were even more handsome in real life. The blonde man finally came over to me, gently tugging his boyfriend behind him.

"Hey, Ebby. I'm Steve Rogers, this is Tony Stark. We're Captain America and Iron Man."

That voice... I heard it before, but it had been much sadder the last time I heard it.

_"We all miss you so much…"_

"Ebby, are you okay?"

I looked up again. The brunet, no, Tony, as I now knew, eyed me worriedly. He had his hand on my shoulder, looking like he was ready to catch me if I would fall over.

"Yeah, I was just thinking… so you two are a couple?" I asked in a try to distract them from my little daydream.

"Y-yeah, we kind of are," Steve said, looking briefly over my head before saying that.

I decided to ignore that. "I don't know if I did back then, but now I don't mind. You guys look really cute together."

"Thanks," he said, blushing.

Suddenly, Tony hugged me tightly before I even knew it. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Steve watching Tony's actions with a horrified and very slightly peeved expression. Was he really that jealous? I mean, you could expect some trust from your partner. And even if Tony was bisexual, there would be no way in heaven or hell that he could be attracted to me in any way, not if he had someone like Steve at his side.  
I hugged him back nevertheless. Somehow, this felt different from being hugged by the others. Being hugged by Thor felt friendly and homey and literally bone-crushing. Being hugged by Natasha felt like being hugged by a good friend. But this felt much more secure, much more loving and… kind of… familiar. It was the same thing as with Steve's voice. I had heard it somewhere before, but it had been kind of muffled. Unclear.

I knew these guys. I knew them very well.

My eyes snapped open again when I felt something running through my hair. I looked at Tony's shoulder and assumed that it was his hand at my head. I hadn't noticed I had laid my head on his shoulder. I slowly lifted my head took a step back. I smiled at Tony who was grinning widely back.

"We did miss you," Steve said, last, but not least hugging me as well.


	5. Chapter 4: Reason

In the next few days, I often sat with the guys, sharing stories… well, actually I was just listening to them. I was impressed by their adventures as superheroes and even more so when they told me I had been with them on some of their missions.

But leaving that aside for a moment, I couldn't help but remember what Bruce had said when I had met the others…

_"We are all a bit special… and so are you."_

How was I special? I seemed to have been good friends with Natasha, so maybe I was an assassin. I also got along with Bruce and Tony, maybe I was a genius. Or a soldier like Steve. That I was a goddess was rather doubtful, so I ignored that choice… maybe I was the only one on the team who could 'take her thump off'…

Right now, I sat on my bed, randomly surfing on the internet with the laptop Tony had given me while the others were out on a mission. They had insisted on one of them staying here with me, but I declined that offer. After all, I was a grown woman.

I googled 'The Avengers' just for fun and got plenty of forum entries, fan art and other stuff. I scrolled down and stopped at some random newspaper article.

**_God of Mischief Strikes Again – Avenger Badly Injured During Attack_**

Under the headline was a picture of a destroyed-beyond-recognition district of New York. One of the guys had been injured… I started reading…

_After the attacks of the so-called 'Chitauri' a few years prior, the self-proclaimed 'God of Mischief' Loki strikes again. The recent attack has destroyed large parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens…_

Loki… Loki… Norse God of Mischief… you got to be kidding me. Seriously, first Thor, now Loki? I felt like I was still dreaming and my alarm would rip me out of it any moment now. But nothing happened.

_… The New York Police Department has denied a statement and refers to the director of the Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division, Nick Fury, who states that the attacks were "an act of revenge and a try to heal his bruised ego". He also confirms the rumors of an Avenger being seriously injured while evacuating citizens in the of the attack affected areas of the city…_  
_…When he first attacked New York, Loki had been defeated by a team called 'The Avengers'…_

Loki… attack… evacuating people… debris falling… Steve screaming and running… Tony holding me…

_"Stay with us… please, stay…"_

I snapped out of it, clutching the covers beneath me. That was a memory, no doubt. I was there. I had been the one being injured… I scrolled up to the begin of the article, checking the date.

About two years ago.

I had spent the last two years in a coma. Since this attack. Tony and Steve had saved me. I took a breath and closed my eyes.

_"Do you really think you can defeat me?" a man in a golden armor and horned helmet laughed at me._

_"We did last time, didn't we?" I retorted._

_He didn't seem to like my response and aimed his spear at me, firing a blue energy beam at me. I threw my hands up in front of me, deflecting it. The man was about to fire again when he noticed a guy in a blue white and red costume came running toward us._

_"NO!" he shouted and suddenly I felt an intense pain at the side of my head before hitting the rubble on the ground. My vision blurred and became black slowly, but steadily._

_"No… stay with us… please stay…" I heard Tony's voice before falling unconscious._

"Ebby?"

My eyes snapped open when I heard that voice again and flinched back when I saw Steve in front of me, watching me with concern.

"I didn't mean to startle you. Are you okay?"

"Where is Loki?" I breathed.


	6. Chapter 5: Truth

Steve was surprised. "Why do you ask?"

"Because of this." I pulled the laptop over and showed him the article. He read it and shifted his gaze towards the floor.

"Yes, that's why you can't remember," he said.

"I know, I remembered."

He stared at me with wide eyes. "How much could you recall?" he asked frantically.

"Just the moments before I blacked out," I replied, staring at the screen.

"Would've been too good to be true," he murmured.

"Yeah… so, where is he?"

"He's back in Asgard, locked away forever. Hopefully. Odin took his magic from him."

I nodded. "You and Tony were the ones who found me first."

"Yeah, I could catch that giant piece of debris before it could squish you, but Loki had already landed a blow on your head," Steve whispered, still not facing me.

"Thanks for saving my life." I reached out, resting my hand on his head, making him finally look at me. He smiled sadly.

"… Just wished we could've saved your memories as well."

"You did your best. You're the reason I'm still alive." I cupped his cheek and grazed my thump over it lightly. Steve closed his eyes and relaxed considerably. We stayed like this for a while until he jumped from the edge of the bed.

"I-I… I should go now!" he blurted out and strode to the door. Before I could call out for him to come back, he had slammed it shut.

I was more than merely confused. I was starting to get irritated and just now, I realized something that didn't occur to me before: Everyone, even Bruce who seemed to be a bit more reserved than the others for actually quite… understandable reasons, was nice, open and tried to directly approach me. I had read my file by now and knew that I didn't have any family worth mentioning, so they were the only ones I had left.

The only ones that kept some distance to me were Steve and Tony. Steve spent most of his time down in the gym, training. Tony always disappeared in his workshop, upgrading his armor or building a new one. But aside from that, they were always a bit wary around me. I knew I wasn't a regular human being; Bruce had told me, but I would never intentionally hurt them. I was already working on controlling them.

But that couldn't be the only reason.

I got up from the bed while I closed the laptop and headed to the door. I took the elevator to their floor and strode quickly towards their bedroom. I didn't know why I headed there first, I just did. I knocked on the door. "Steve? Tony? Are you guys in there?"

When there was no response, I opened the door a bit. "Guys?" Nothing. I walked over to their bathroom door, knocking. "Hello? Steve? Tony?" Again, no response.

I sighed heavily. Seemed like I wasn't going to get any answers to my questions. I turned around and started walking towards the door again when I saw something flashing out of the corner of my eye. I turned towards the small drawer at the side of the bed and sauntered over to it. I opened it a bit wider and saw a photo. A photo of three people. A photograph of Steve, Tony and me. Tony hugged me and Steve hugged him. We looked so happy and content… I picked it up and noticed a small stack of photos, moments of Tony, Steve and me I had forgotten…

… me standing in the sunlight on the roof of the Tower…

… Steve hugging me from behind…

… Tony kissing my cheek…

… Steve holding me while he kissed me…

… Tony just holding me close…

I had sat down by now. What was the meaning of this? I always thought Steve and Tony were a couple… I always thought Steve was a bit possessive… I didn't know what to think anymore. My mind just went blank for a second and I lowered my head to stare at my lap where the first picture still lay. I stared at it, still quite unbelieving of what I saw. Why had they kept that from me?

"Ebby, what are you doing here?"

My head snapped up again at that voice. I froze when I heard Tony walking over and sitting on the bed next to me.

"I was just downstairs in the workshop. Is there anything you need?"

I couldn't reply. My mouth was dry like the desert and I actually couldn't even form a coherent sentence. The only thing I did was clutching the pictures in my hands as I stared at the wall in front of me.

Of course, Tony noticed something was wrong and as soon as his eyes caught the photos in my hands, he sat a bit straighter. "I… I can explain…"

"Why…?" I whispered breathlessly, turning to him with a blank, yet hurt look.

He withstood my gaze for a moment until he jumped up and practically ran out of the room, just like Steve. And now it made sense to me. They were keeping their distance, so I could remember them on my own. They didn't tell me, because they didn't want to scare me away.

They still waited for me.


End file.
